


Go on, go home

by edourado



Series: Hell's Kitchen Chronicles [25]
Category: Daredevil (TV)
Genre: F/M, First Date, Fluff, Missing Scene, Romance, Second Kiss, karedevil - Freeform, what happened in between
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-05
Updated: 2016-07-05
Packaged: 2018-07-21 15:30:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,188
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7393123
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/edourado/pseuds/edourado
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Tumblr prompt: " what happened in their date between Karen's description and them walking hand in hand, I mean, what did they talk about? or 2: what happened between the ending of season 1 and the beginning of season 2?"<br/>I tried to combine both, but focused on the first.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Go on, go home

He couldn’t see her, but, man, did he like looking.

With his face turned towards her, he was very much aware that he was smiling like a lovesick loser, his food getting colder and colder on his plate. She was talking and moving her hand, adjusting her hair and smiling and he caught himself praying he would, someday, deserve all of that. 

But, well, they call him the Devil. So he would take it even if he didn’t.  

Matt forced himself to eat, because, honestly, it would be weird if he didn’t and she might think that he didn’t like the place. Which he did. He would forever like this place, now.

He paid the bill while she did a quick run to the ladies room. She touched his arm when she walked back to let him know she was there, but he knew. Had listened to the rhythm of her heels against the floor, creating an interesting symphony against the talk, the dishes, the voices of customers, waiters, the rush of dinner. She was quieter, but louder, somehow, a focal point  for him. 

“Ready?” she asked, that voice, that voice,  _ that voice, _ smooth, familiar, Karen’s. 

Nodding, he got up and she got his arm, hand on the crook of his elbow, as if he was guiding her, but moved first, starting towards the door, holding him back when he needed to slow his pace, gently pushing and pulling on his arm until they got to the door. 

“Thank you guys, have a nice evening!” the waitress who opened the door for them greeted. 

“Thank you, you too”, Karen smiled at her, stepping out with him. “There’s a step here”, she said, softer, to him, other hand on his arm too. 

“Well”, he said, turning to her, trying to pull himself out of that daze that made him want to be quiet and just listen to her. He had to say something, don’t freak her out on your first date, which you almost ruined. “That was the best dinner I had in ages.”

She curved her lips in a wide smile, biting on the lower one slightly. 

“Yeah.”

He turned his head up, towards the sky. 

“It’s not raining tonight”, he observed. “Can I walk you home this time?”

Taking a silent, deep breath, she nodded before vocalizing her consent. 

“Yes.”

He took her hand from his elbow and weaved his fingers through hers, pulling her to the sidewalk. 

Karen giggled and tugged on his hand. 

“It’s this way.”

He frowned, tugging back.

“No, it’s this way, trust me. We have to go around the block.”

“Just to get to the other side of the sidewalk?”

“Yeah. It makes sense, Karen,” he joked.

Smiling, she shook her head, but started walking by his side.

“You gonna get us lost.”

“Am not. I’m a human GPS, don’t you know?”

“Sure.”

Her hand in his, they started on the opposite way to her apartment, just so he could enjoy her a while longer. Speaking of which…

He slowed his stride, tugging on her hand. 

“Slower.”

Her thumb caressed the palm of his hand and it was, somehow, so intimate, so private. He loved it, tightening his hold. 

When they stopped to cross the street, on the corner they could have reached in less than half a minute if they had walked left on the restaurant’s door, she looked at him, supporting her chin on his shoulder. 

“May I?” she asked, touching the rim of his glasses. Matt thought for a second, remembering how he always felt that she could read him like a book when he had his glasses off. But maybe he wanted her to. So he nodded. 

Carefully, delicately, she removed it from his face, folding them, reaching inside his jacket and placing them neatly inside his pocket. He smiled, turning his face towards her, feeling his skin react to the feel of the tip of her fingers on his chest.   

“I like your eyes”, she whispered to him and he heard the light turn, they could walk, but she didn’t move, so neither would he. 

“You do?”

“Yeah. They’re good eyes.”

The tip of her nose touched his slightly, for a second, and then she moved her face back, to better look at him. 

“Tell me about yours” he asked. 

“Oh”, she took her chin from his shoulder and turned her face forward, pulling him to cross the street. “Mine are blue. Boring.”

“Boring?” he repeated, surprised. “Since when are blue eyes boring?”

She shrugged, both her hands in his, strolling leisurely. 

“I don’t know. They just are.”

“I doubt that very much. If I’m remembering right - and, correct me if I’m wrong - blue eyes are the stuff to fuel poems and songs, right?”

“I guess.”

“You guess”, he mock scolded, voice low. “Do you remember Andrew Colier?”

“The quarterback with the injured shoulder? Yeah, why?”

“Major crush on you.”

“Oh”, she raised the hand he wasn’t holding and slapped his arm slightly. “Come on.”

“I’m serious. I wanted him to talk about the case and all he wanted to do was talk about you.”

Karen laughed. She knew it was true, had dodged more than a few advances from him. 

“‘Is Miss Page single, man?’”, he mocked, copying the voice of his former client in a way that made him sound dumber than he was. She continued laughing, bowing her head and biting that lip. “‘Man, she’s got these eyes, man.’”

“He talked about my eyes?”

“He talked about you, period. I had to scare him into focusing on the case.”

She walked by his side, her pace matching his. 

“Come to think of it, he did hug me pretty tight when you won.”

“Did he?” Matt asked. “I didn’t know that.”

He did know. Had to put a very convincing poker face in place to hide how not amused he was about that extra long, extra tight hug.

“Maybe I should have lost.”

She poked him on the ribs, making him squirm away. 

“What about Angie Palmer?”

“What about her?”

“She had a crush on you, didn’t she?”

Matt smiled, remembering one of the first clients they had after Fisk got arrested. 

It was on that day, that Foggy had put their brand new plaque on the wall outside the building and he asked her what was it about her voice and he had the feeling that she was lying but he couldn’t be sure. 

She had accepted his hand and pulled him inside the office, where they made celebratory coffee - she had showed him how to use the coffee maker, hand on top of his, guiding his movements, promising she would get some braille labels for the kitchen, too. 

The phone had rung and she answered it (“Nelson & Murdock, how may I help you?”, he loved that. Everything about it. It was his firm, his and Foggy’s, they really did help people, and it was Karen’s, her voice welcoming their clients, welcoming him every day with a nice “good morning”, laughing with them, it was comfortable, he liked her voice so much. Foggy would roll his eyes every time he said it, but it was true), and it was Miss Palmer, with her case of abusive hospital bills. 

“How many times did she show up with a little gift?”

Matt chuckled. 

“How many sweets did she bring you?”

“Wait, no, she brought sweets for all of us.”

“Yeah, sure, but mine and Foggy’s were these little fruit candies, like green apple and banana. Yours was always chocolate fudge, caramels… Chocolate covered strawberries, once, if I’m not mistaken?” she teased. 

“Which I gave you”, he said, turning his face, trying to sense the movement of her hair, maybe, of the curve of her neck.  

“And to Foggy.”

“He gets jealous.”

She laughed. He wanted to live for that laughter. 

“That’s not the point. The point is she brought you these sexy, romantic treats, and she would sit in your office and I had to come rescue you.”

“Ah, yes. ‘You have a phone call, Mr. Murdock.’”

“But it was just me on the phone.”

He smiled, and then he frowned, a thought occurring to him. 

“Did you do that because you were jealous?”

“Oh,very full of ourselves, aren’t we?” she asked, the words coming around the smile on her lips. “No. I did it because you were busy.”

“I wasn’t busy”, he smiled big, too. 

“Yes, you were. You had reports to read and all those new clients that started pouring in, plus the press, those papers that wanted to interview you guys.”

“The press, right. You were jealous.”

“Alright, suit yourself.”

They walked for a while longer, she rested her cheek on his shoulder when they had to stop at a light, he didn’t let go of her hand once. Lifted it with his when he needed to scratch his cheek, resisted the urge to kiss it, because it was just the first date, calm down. Gave into temptation and touched his lips to her knuckles while she answered his question about something or other, he wasn’t really paying attention. He just wanted to hear her voice. 

They were walking as slowly as they could without making it look like they were trying to move in slow motion. Matt never wanted this walk to end. He wanted to feel the sun rise and touch his skin and keep walking with her hand tucked in his. He would go forever, if he could. 

But then she stopped, lagging behind, and he had to turn back.

“This is me”, she said, half smiling, half… Something, something good. He felt oddly disappointed, like it was rude of her building to just materialize like that. 

He didn’t want to let go. 

“Sure you don’t… Live two more blocks?” he asked, angling his shoulder toward the path he wanted to keep going with her and she let out a chuckle, a breathy smile, and he had to smile too. “Maybe three?”

She was already leaning towards him and he leaned too, just a little. She was a magnet, irresistible. 

“I wish”, she breathed out. She was close, still so close. “We could sit?”

“Yeah”, he agreed, too fast, too eager, anything to stretch this out. 

They sat down on the front steps of that rude building and she crossed her legs, he finally let go of her hand. 

His palm missed it instantly, so he crossed his own fingers together,  _ just be cool _ .

But she was suddenly biting her lips, he could feel the smile the failed to contain, as silent as it was, and that was it. He was done. They had dinner, they walked, he listened, he did his best not to crowd her, to go too intensely, but she was biting her lip and she hadn’t, not once, tried to let go of his hand on the way, so he let out a chuckle and gave in. 

“Alright, I’m gonna kiss ya.”

Karen let out that giggle and angled her head towards him and there. He was kissing her. Finally, again, for the second time, for the first time, because that one, last night, with the rain on them had not been enough, not nearly, not even close, he wanted more, like this, even more. He pulled her face towards his, he caught her hand again, he tasted her lips and her tongue and he felt like he would never be able to let go. 

But he had to, because there was still so much he needed to say, so much he wanted to tell her, but maybe he shouldn’t, maybe it would spoil everything. Maybe he could remain Matt Murdock with her, this man with the normal life, with her, she was enough. Maybe he could be this man for a while longer, with her hand on his neck and her fingers running through his hair, gasping, because of him. 

“You could come up… If you like…”

He wanted to. Right then, there was nothing he wanted more, but she was so wonderful, she was so… Clear, of all the shit and the violence that he had to keep at bay, in the dark corners of his life, doing his best to keep it from spilling into the light, her light, his light. 

So he had to slow down. For her, he had to slow down. For himself, too, so he didn’t burn too soon, so he didn’t use up all this wonderful light he had when he found her, he needed to keep it clear of all the darkness. 

So he backed away. Told her “not tonight”, tried to explain why, tried to hold himself and he tried to stop kissing her, but he couldn’t, as long as she was there in front of him. 

It was both a relief and painful when she leaned away, saying goodnight, got up, climbed the rest of the stairs and unlocked her door, swaying away from him, warm and willing and he told himself to breathe. 

Breathe. Get up. Go home. 

And don’t screw this up. 


End file.
